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A^riciilttirr.l  De-  art  ent 
AmiiiLil  Address 


Agric.  Oopt. 


i^o.  Dept. 


[-lO 


ANNUAL     ADDRESS 


DKLIVERED   BEFORE   THE 


State  Agricultural  Society 


OF    CALIFORNIA . 


In  the  Pavilion  at  Sacramento, 


September  i8,  i8go, 


WII.I.IAM     H.    MILIvS, 


SAN   FRANCISCO: 
H.  S.  Crocker  &  Co  ,  Stationers,  Printers  and  Uthographers. 

1890. 


PRESERVATION 
COPY  ADDED 
ORIGINAL  TO  BE 
RETAINED 


}|^ 


•  ••  • 


H,5 


Udn  Lib. 
Agric.  Dept. 


r^ 


•  1 


Mr.  President^  and  Gentleme^i  of  the 

State  Board  of  Agriculture  : 

The  invitation  to  deliver  the  annual  address  before  your  honorable 
body,  received  at  the  hands  of  your  honored  President,  plainly  indicated 
the  questions  you  desired  should  be  discussed  before  you.  In  addition 
to  the  indication  of  the  letter  of  invitation,  your  President  has  taken 
the  very  proper  precaution  of  discussing:  with  me  personally  the  matters, 
to  which  your  attention  should  be  called,  and  the  general  theme,  to 
which  the  modest  merit  of  this  effort  should  be  addressed. 

The  annual  exhibitions  of  the  State  Agricultural  Society  are  designed 
to  be  illustrative  of  the  progress  of  agriculture,  horticulture  and  the 
mechanic  arts  in  our  State.  These  exhibitions  are  in  the  highest  sense 
an  epitome  of  State  progress.  The  inventions  of  the  mind,  the  work  of 
the  hands  and  the  intelligent  direction  of  nature  in  the  production  of  the 
objects  of  human  desire,  are  presented  annually  for  the  instruction  and 
the  thoughtful  consideration  of  our  people.  This  is  the  theater  of  the 
pride  of  industry.  Here  useful  toil  is  crowned  with  honor,  and  b^  that 
crowning,  labor  is  dignified  and  ennobled.  P'or  thirty-eight  years  these 
exhibitions  have  been  held,  each  exhibition  a  leaf  in  the  history  of  the 
progress  of  our  State.  But  thirty-eight  years  is  scarcely  a  yesterday  in 
the  history  of  states  and  nations.  More  than  this,  it  is  scarcely  a  noon 
to  the  morning  of  to-day.  But,  -  notwithstanding  the  brevity  of  time 
which  has  elapsed  since  the  foundations  of  our  State  were  laid,  startling 
contrasts  and  gratifying  comparisons  would  be  disclosed  if  only  the  first 
annual  exhibition  of  this  society  could  be  placed  side  by  side  with  that 
of  to-day. 

You  need  not  be  told  that  the  American  settlement  of  California  was 
induced  by  an  ardent  and  expectant  search  for  gold,  but  when  measur- 
ing the  progress  California  has  made  in  iield  culture,  you  do  need  to  be 
reminded  that  its  first  occupants  and  inhabitants  had  no  faith  in  its 
agricultural  resources.  Men  are  naturally  intolerant  as  to  the  differences 
they  encounter  between  the  countries  with  which  they  are  familiar  and 
those  they  casually  visit.  Moreover,  men  in  seeking  new  homes,  seek 
those  where  the  industrie's  they  have  pursued  in  the  old  are  the  standards 
of  industry  in  the  new.  Of  the  truth  of  this,  every  individual  has  a  wit- 
ness in  his  own  mind.  We  are  not  attracted  to  the  countries  whose 
objects  of  culture  are  wholly  unfamiliar  to  us.     When  an  exhibition  is 

265577 


spread  out  before  a  spectator,  that  portion  of  it  with  which  he  is  familiar 
and  the  result  of  that  industry  in  which  he  is  engaged  will  be  most 
attractive,  because  it  will  be  under  the  most  intelligent  and  familiar 
observation.  The  people  of  the  Temperate  Zone,  and  skilled  in  the  field 
culture  possible  in  the  latitudes  of  their  nativity,  find  strangely 
unfamiliar  objects  of  cultivation  unattractive,  when  the  proposition  to 
engage  in  the  cultivation  of  the  unfamiliar  object  is  under  consideration. 
It  is  for  this  reason  that  men  migrate  upon  the  latitudes  of  their  nativity. 
They  seek  new  homes  with  more  favorable  environment  for  personal 
prosperity,  but  they  do  not  seek  a  change  of  industry,  which  involves 
the  abandonment  of  that  with  which  they  are  familiar  for  the  adoption 
of  that  which  is  new.  They  feel  a  confidence  in  the  skill  and  judgment 
which  observation  and  experience  have  ripened  in  their  minds,  so  long 
as  the  question  of  engaging  in  industries  already  familiar  is  presented, 
but' they  naturally  lose  that  confidence  when  methods  of  agriculture  and 
horticulture,  relating  to  unfamiliar  productions,  are  a  part  of  the  problem 
involved  in  the  change  of  residence. 

The  agricultural  and  horticultural  possibilities  of  California  were  a 
sealed  book  to  the  pioneer  population  of  this  State.  The  seasons  for 
seed  time  and  harvest  were  new  and  strange.  The  art  of  agriculture,  as 
it  was  known  and  practiced  by  themselves  and  their  fathers,  was  inappli- 
cable here.  This  is  not  to  be  wondered  at.  The  time  of  growth  and 
verdure,  as  known  to  them,  was  from  the  spring  month  of  April  to  the 
October  of  autumn.  Then  followed  a  winter  of  death  to  vegetation,  a 
period  of  slumber  in  which  all  growth  was  bound  in  icy  chains  and  laid 
to  sleep  in  the  cradle  of  winter.  To  them,  spring  with  its  seed  time, 
sumijier  with  its  ripening  suns  and  autumn  with  its  golden  harvests, 
meant  certain  specific  months  of  the  calendar.  They  found  these  months 
of  the  old  calendar  the  winter  of  suspended  animation  in  California. 
Instead  of  the  June  of  verdure  and  blossoms,  they  found  one  of  russet- 
brown  hills  and  sun-parched  plains,  with  all  the  unmistakable  conditions 
of  the  aridity  of  death.  But  on  the  other  hand,  they  found  a  later 
autumn  and  a  longer  winter  of  verdure.  Finally  the  suggestion  came 
that  the  old  almanac  was  as  inapplicable  to  the  seasons  of  California  as 
the  old  art  of  agriculture  had  proven.  Instead  of  the  winter  of  former 
experience,  they  found  spring-time  to  follow  harvest,  verdure  to  come 
with  the  rains  of  heaven,  growth  and  vegetation  belonging  to  the  months 
relegated  to  the  rigid  bonds  of  winter  in  the  homes  they  had  left.  Slowly 
the  true  meaning  of  the  new  environment  began  to  be  understood.  The 
new  art  of  agriculture  followed  the  suggestion  of  new  vicissitudes  in 
nature,  until  to-day  the  art  of  horticulture  and  agriculture,  as  practiced 
in  California,  is  not  known  elsewhere  in  the  world,  and  it  is  to  the 
material  and  moral  results  of  this  new  adaptation  of  industry  to  a  new 
environment  that  your  attention  is  to  be  called. 

You  have  plainly  indicated  to  me  that  you  desire  the  matters  herein 
presented  for  publication.  Therefore,  what  is  said  herein  will  go  forth 
with  your  endorsement.     I  earnestly  ask  that  before  this  endorsement  is 


accorded,  the  matter  herein  presented  shall  receive  your  very  candid  con- 
sideration, and  its  publication  to  the  world  shall  receive  your  unanimous 
consent.  In  this  way  it  will  become  your  statement,  and  with  this 
endorsement  of  your  honorable  body,  it  will  be  received  by  those  who 
accord  it  an  examination  as  authentic.  It  cannot  be  your  purpose  to 
place  it  before  our  own  people  only,  and  since  it  is  to  go  forth  to  the 
world,  to  the  more  densely  populated  portions  of  our  common  country, 
from  whose  borders  we  are  seeking  a  reinforcement  of  our  population, 
an  augmentation  of  its  industrial  capacity,  and  additions  to  the  capital 
available  for  the  development  of  our  diversified  industries,  let  us  place 
oilrselves  at  once  in  the  mental  attitude  of  directly  addressing  those  who 
are  unfamiliar  with  the  resources  of  our  State.  Let  us,  if  you  please, 
imagine  ourselves  before  an  audience  of  those  who  desire  to  change  their 
place  of  residence,  and  leave  the  older  and  more  finished  civilizations  of 
our  country,  for  those  wherein  the  conditions  of  primitiveness  still 
obtain.  With  the  earnest  purpose  of  awakening  in  their  minds  an 
interest  in  our  State,  let  us  be  equally  earnest  in  a  determination  to 
present  the  facts  fairly  and  truthfully,  so  that  if  any  honor  us  with  a 
change  of  residence  in  our  favor,  the  responsibility  of  disappointing 
representation  will  not  rest  with  us. 

At  the  outset  we  are  impelled  by  candor  to  admit  that  the  growth  of 
this  commonwealth  has  not  kept  pace  with  the  growth  of  the  States 
lying  immediately  west  of  the  Mississippi  river,  nor  yet  west  of  the  Mis- 
souri river.  Our  first  immigration  was  phenomenal.  It  is  estimated 
that  in  the  first  two  years  after  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California,  the 
alluring  opportunity  of  acquiring  great  wealth  by  a  sudden  turn  of  for- 
tune in  the  way  of  gold  discovery,  brought  to  this  State  400,000  people. 
The  stories  of  the  fabulous  wealth  of  our  mines  attracted  a  population  as 
if  by  enchantment.  That  population  came  uninfluenced  by  emigra- 
tion literature,  by  maps,  pamphlets,  by  taking  descriptions,  or  by  any 
other  method  or  device  of  recent  times  to  promote  the  growth  of 
States.  The  story  of  gold  discoveries  in  the  way  of  broad  placer  fields, 
open  to  the  world,  made  a  strong  appeal  to  the  adventurous  spirits  of 
all  countries.  They  came  by  thousands,  and  they  were  impelled  to 
come  by  the  hope  of  greatly  improving  their  condition  ;  in  fact,  this 
hope  is  one  of  the  allurements  which  change  the  seat  of  population  from 
one  country  to  another.  Populations  are  moved  from  the  older  to  the 
newer  portions  of  the  world  in  the  hope  of  finding  an  environment  more 
favorable  to  personal  prosperity.  In  our  own  country  populations  have 
left  the  well-developed  regions  for  the  more  sparsely-settled  territories  in 
the  hope  of  acquiring  property  at  undeveloped  values  and  thus  securing 
the  advantage  of  the  inevitable  and  coming  development.  Allured  by 
the  hope  of  sudden  wealth,  distance  could  not  discourage  and  hardship 
could  not  deter  the  great  tide  of  incoming  population.  In  a  modified 
way  there  is  a  lesson  in  this ;  where  actual  prosperity  exists  population 
comes  by  the  force  of  an  irresistible  invitation  ;  where  prosperity  is 
merely  promised,  immigration   can  be  induced  only   by  argument  and 


persuasion.  A  genuine  prosperity  in  our  State  will  bring  us  a  reinforce- 
ment of  industrial  population  uninvited,  except  by  the  cogency  of  pros- 
perity itself. 

The  gold-seekers  formed  the  basis  of  our  population  ;  they  laid  the 
foundations  of  our  social  and  political  structure  ;  they  made  the  mold 
in  which  the  elements  of  our  civilization  were  cast.  They  were  an  enter-' 
prising  people  to  the  very  verge  of  being  speculative  and  adventurous.  The 
influences  of  primitive  conditions  are  very  difficult  of  eradication.  The 
pioneer  population  of  any  country  gives  direction,  color  and  character  to 
its  growth.  The  primitive  conditions,  therefore,  exert  an  influence  upon 
the  character  of  populations  long  after  those  conditions  have  passed 
away.  We  are  by  no  means  entirely  emancipated  from  the  influences 
of  our  earliest  environment.  The  speculative  spirit  is  at  war  with 
methodical  and  plodding  industry.  The  diligent  industry  and  methodi- 
cal habits,  to  which  we  are  so  much  indebted  for  the  development  of  our 
agricultural  and  horticultural  industries,  are  attributes  of  more  recent 
growth  ;  hence  it  may  be  truthfully  said  that  our  population,  but  forty 
years  old,  has  less  than  twenty  years  of  development,  when  those  enter- 
prises and  industries  relating  to  its  real  and  permanent  sources  of  pros- 
perity are  considered.  When  success  in  the  search  for  gold  ceased  to  be 
as  hazardous  as  a  lottery,  and  successful  mining  became  dependent  upon 
more  thoughtful  and  intelligent  methods,  for  many  years  the  attention 
of  the  world  was  withdrawn  from  California.  This  attention  was  revived 
with  the  stock  speculative  period,  the  most  injurious  period  in  our  his- 
tory. During  the  many  years  of  its  pernicious  prevalence,  our  best  enter- 
prise and  a  large  portion  of  our  capital  were  employed  in  the  discovery 
and  operation  of  silver  mines.  In  spite  of  all  these,  however,  the  good 
work  of  creating  a  commonwealth,  founded  upon  the  enduring  industries 
invited  by  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  had  gone  on,  and  since  the  subsidence 
of  the  speculative  period,  has  made  year  by  year  gratifying  progress. 
Great  commonwealths  cannot  be  founded  upon  the  exceptional  and  the 
unusual.  The  wealth  of  every  State  and  every  nation  is  found  in  the 
industrial  capacity  of  its  people,  and  in  the  direction  of  this  industrial 
capacity  in  producing  the  natural  and  legitimate  objects  of  human  de- 
sire. It  is,  therefore,  fairly  within  the  lines  of  reasonable  representation 
to  say  that  the  foundations  of  California,  which  are  to  endure  and  are  to 
grow  into  an  empire  of  wealth  and  population,  were  laid  less  than  twenty 
years  ago.  The  real  and  enduring  industries  of  our  State  are  less  than 
twenty  years  of  age.  In  this  great  respect  our  annals  are  misleading. 
We  were  admitted  a  State  into  the  Union  forty  years  ago,  but  the  Cali- 
fornia of  the  first  twenty  years  of  this  period  saw  its  morning  of  promise, 
its  midday  splendor  of  romantic  adventure  and  its  declining  afternoon. 
The  new  creation  of  this  commonwealth  is  now  in  its  earliest  dawn. 
Our  annals  may  therefore  be  justly  divided  into  the  California  of  history 
and  the  California  of  prophecy.  Forgetting  the  past  and  looking  to  the 
future,  the  first  consideration  which  arrests  our  attention  is  our  geograph- 
ical position. 


ECONOMIC    COMMUNICATION     THE     EQUIVAI.ENT     OF     PHYSICAL,    CONTI- 

.       GUITY. 

Since  the  birth  of  this  State,  a  great  economic  force  has  come  into  oper- 
ation, I  refer  to  cheap  and  rapid  communication  Economic  transpor- 
tation is  the  equivalent  of  physical  contiguity.  Let  us  make  this  plain. 
Go  back  in  the  history  of  production  and  transportation  a  hundred  years, 
and  you  will  find  that  the  area  of  the  profitable  production  of  wheat  did 
not  extend  beyond  twent3^-four  miles  from  the  market  for  that  cereal.  The 
profitable  area  of  production  for  hay  did  not  reach  beyond  ten  miles  of 
its  market.  The  area  of  the  profitable  production  of  garden  stuff,  being 
a  little  higher  class,  had  a  somewhat  greater  extent.  We  may,  however, 
safely  say  that  one  hundred  years  ago,  the  area  of  the  profitable  produc- 
tion of  all  the  products  of  the  soil  did  not  exceed  twenty-five  miles  by 
land.  The  distance  that  food  products  could  be  carried  by  water  was  far 
greater,  but  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  twenty-five  miles 
from  navigable  water  constituted  the  area  of  profitable  production  for 
nearly  all  species  of  field  culture.  Navigable  waterways  of  the  country 
form  channels  of  cheap  communication  ;  hence  cities  and  towns  sprung 
up  along  the  banks  of  navigable  rivers  ;  they  were  marts  of  exchange. 
Beyond  them  a  distance  of  twenty -five  or  thirty  miles,  the  limit  of  profit- 
able production  was  reached.  The  grazing  interests  were  somewhat  better 
off.  Fatted  hogs  could  be  driven  from  loo  to  150  miles.  Cattle  could  be 
driven  profitably  500  miles,  and  horses  were  known  to  be  taken  over  a 
thousand  miles.  The  advent  of  railroads  came,  and  here  around  the  city 
in  which  you  are  holding  this  fair,  garden  vegetables  are  raised  for 
markets  in  Denver,  Col.,  and  St.  Louis,  Missouri  —  even  far  beyond 
these  limits.  Vegetables  are  raised  in  the  vicinity  of  this  city  for  the 
New  York  market,  3, 188  miles  distant.  Thus  the  radius  of  profitable 
production  sweeps  over  a  limit  of  land  transportation  3,000  miles  long, 
as  against  a  length  of  twenty-five  or  thirty  miles  before  the  advent  of 
steam  transportation  by  railroad  on  land  and  steam  navigation  on  the 
ocean.  We  shipped  from  California  in  1880,  2,880,000  pounds  of 
garden  vegetables.  There  has  been  a  gradual  and  steady  increase  of 
the  shipments  under  this  head  until  in  1888  they  had  risen  to  32,ooo_ooo 
pounds,  or  more  than  ten  times  the  quantity  shipped  in  1880.  The 
same  ratio  of  increase  for  eight  years  more  would  give  us  300,000,000 
.pounds,  and  who  shall  say  that  the  proportionate  increase  will  not  be 
realized  ? 

This  doctrine  that  economic  communication  may  become  the  equiv- 
alent of  physical  coutiguity  is  the  basis  of  all  we  hope  for.  It  is 
the  most  far  reaching  and  significant  factor  in  the  future  of  California. 
Three  days  ordinary  wages  in  England  will  pay  the  cost  of  transportation 
on  one  year's  supply  of  breadstuffs  for  an  individual,  from  the  most  inac- 
cessible and  distant  wheat-producing  zones  of  the  world.  The  cost  grows 
less  as  you  approach  the  seaboard.  Breadstuffs  are  carried  distances 
which  are  practically  unlimited   along  the  commercial  pathways  of  the 


—  8  — 

globe.  Fruits,  green  and  canned,  are  exchanged  with  every  portion 
of  the  earth,  and  rice  is  practically  as  cheap  in  one  portion  of  the 
world  as  another.  Live  stock  is  carried  across  continents  and  seas, 
and  live  chickens  are  transported  economically  3,000  miles  ;  and  dairy 
products  accompany  all  other  articles  of  commerce.  If  ten  miles  from  a 
market  on  a  watercourse  was  the  radius  of  the  profitable  area  of  produc- 
tion of  garden  stuffs  a  century  ago,  and  3,000  miles  is  the  length  of  the 
radius  now,  the  countries  at  the  end  of  that  3,000-mile  line  are  as  near  to 
the  markets  as  the  gardens  were  at  ten  miles.  Wheat  produced  in  Cali- 
fornia may  be  consumed  in  London  at  a  lower  rate  of  cost  than  bread- 
stuffs  produced  within  thirty  miles  of  that  city  100  years  ago.  When 
the  cost  of  transportation  comes  to  be  applied  to  the  retail  cost  of  any 
article,  it  becomes  inappreciable  ;  for  illustration,  a  pound  of  wheat  in 
Liverpool  has  less  than  a  quarter  of  a  cent  added  to  its  value  by  trans- 
portation, even  when  produced  in  the  most  inaccessible  wheat  fields  of 
the  world.  The  lands  devoted  to  the  production  of  cereals  then  in  these 
most  distant  fields  are  in  direct  competition  with  the  lands  devoted  to 
like  production  in  the  markets  where  cereals  are  produced. 

All  the  assistance  rendered  by  climate  and  soil  in  the  production  of  any 
article  is  the  bounteous  gift  of  nature  to  the  cultivator  of  the  soil. 
Under  the  old  system,  when  transportation  was  costly,  countries  were 
widely  separated.  Under  the  new  system,  which  is  carrying  the  products 
of  the  garden,  the  orchard  and  the  field  half  round  the  world,  with 
inappreciable  value  added  on  account  of  its  cost,  every  portion  of  the 
world  is  in  immediate  competition  with  all  other  portions  in  the  pro- 
duction of  the  objects  of  human  desire.  The  competition  of  soils  and 
climates  is  immediately  present  in  every  market  of  the  world.  In  these 
markets,  we  see  the  fertility  of  soils  and  the  favoring  conditions  of 
climate  competing  with  the  environment  of  every  other  portion  of  the 
world,  where  any  industrial  pursuits  are  followed.  In  every  market 
there  are  immediately  present  the  effects  of  the  systems  of  labor,  the 
methods  of  production,  the  favoring  conditions  of  soil  and  climate  ;  they 
meet  face  to  face ;  distance  no  longer  divides  them.  Their  economic 
presence  has  become  the  equivalent  of  physical  contiguity.  Now  sup- 
pose that  in  a  single  township  in  some  of  the  valleys  of  California,  you 
have  the  rigorous  climate  of  Minnesota.  Suppose  that  within  that 
township,  the  thermometer  descends  to  ten  degrees  below  zero  in  Novem- 
ber, and  with  the  exception  of  occasional  thaws  never  rises  above  that , 
indication  until  March.  Suppose  that  destructive  blizzards,  accompa- 
nied by  sleet  and  snow,  rule  and  reign  for  six  or  seven  months  of  the 
year,  would  any  fruit  grower  in  California  be  regarded  as  sane  who 
would  plant  an  orchard  within  that  wintry  belt  ?  Now  since  communica- 
tion has  become  equal  to  contact,  will  fruit  growing  be  pursued  in  any 
country  subjected  to  the  wintry  conditions  herein  described,  as  against 
the  production  of  fruit,  where  spring  comes  at  the  end  of  harvest  ?  Take 
as  an  illustration  the  cost  of  producing  wheat  in  California.  There  are 
no  storms  in  the  harvest  period ;  this  is  equal  to  twenty-five  per  cent 
advantage  in  the  production  of  the  crop. 


—  9  — 

Upon  this  subject  Mr.  Shippee  of  Stockton,  an  experienced  wheat 
grower,  says  :  "First,  we  have  a  climate  that  is  wonderfully  well  adapted 
'*  for  the  production  of  wheat.  In  the  second  place,  our  lands  are  level ; 
*'  are  cultivated  by  large  gang  plows,  from  two  to  eight  in  a  gang,  and 
"  handled  by  one  man  ;  while  one  man  is  able  to  plow  more  in  one  day 
"  in  this  State  than  in  almost  every  other  State  in  the  Union,  in  like 
''  manner  is  he  able  to  sow  and  harrow  more.  In  the  third  place,  the 
"  machinery  used  in  harvesting  enables  the  wheat  grower  to  harvest  his 
"  entire  crop  at  less  than  half  what  it  costs  in  any  other  State,  since  no 
"  other  State  possesses  these  harvesters.  Fourth,  we  have  no  rains  in 
"  the  summer  to  interfere  ;  we  begin  harvesting  in  June  and  wind  up  in 
"  October,  and  are  not  compelled  to  take  the  grain  out  of  the  field  until 
"  ihe  harvest  season  is  over.  No  other  portion  of  the  wheat  producing 
"  zones  can  do  this." 

Joseph  Cone,  a  very  large  wheat  grower  of  the  Sacramento  valley, 
confirms  these  statements,  and  declares  that  wheat  can  be  grown  for  less 
in  California  than  in  any  other  country  of  the  world.  He  illustrates 
graphically  the  progress  that  has  been  made  in  economic  methods  of 
producing  wheat  by  saying  that  under  the  old  system,  when  harvesting 
was  done  with  a  sickle,  threshing  done  with  a  flail  and  separating  done 
by  the  primitive  method  of  a  fan,  a  tenth  of  an  acre  was  as  much  as  a 
single  harvester  could  cut,  thresh,  separate  and  sack  in  one  day  ;  or,  in 
other  words,  it  would  require  the  labor  of  ten  men  to  harvest,  separate 
and  sack  one  acre  of  wheat,  but  with  the  machinery  now  in  use  the  result 
is  seven  and  one-half  acres  a  day  for  each  man  employed  in  harvesting, 
or  seventy-five  times  the  productive  capacity  of  an  individual  harvester 
under  former  systems. 

Hon,  H.  M.  La  Rue  says:   "  That  wheat  may  be  raised  more  economi- 
'  cally   in   California  than   elsewhere  is   perfectly  tenable.     Our  wheat 
'  lands  are  generally  level,  uniform  in  quality  ;  our  soil  is  rich  and  easily 
'  worked.     Our  system  of  summer  fallowing  enables  us  to  do  our  plow- 
'  ing  in  the  spring,  and  our  seeding  in  the  long  days  in  the  fall  before 
'  the  rainy  season  commences.     Owing  to  our  long  dry  summers,  we 
'  have  ample  time  for  harvest,  without  danger  from  wet  weather.     Our 
'  climate  also  enables  us  to  use  the  most  improved  machinery,  both  in 
'  seeding  and  harvesting.     The  combined  harvester  can  be  used  to  better 
'  advantage  in  California  than  in  any  other  wheat-growing  country,  and 
'  by  its  use  we  have  been    enabled  to   reduce  the  cost   of  harvesting, 
'  threshing  and  cleaning  sixty  per  cent  of  what  it  costs  in  other  coun- 
'  tries." 
I  present  the  testimony  of  these  intelligent  and  experienced  gentle- . 
men,  practical  wheat  growers,  as  conclusive  of  the   assertion  that  wheat 
can  be  grown  more  cheaply  in  California  than   elsewhere.     The  full  sig- 
nificance of  this  can  scarcely  be  realized.     Now  if  the  advantages  of  soil, 
climate  and  general  environment   are  present  in   every  market  in  the 
world,  California  can  raise  breadstuffs  at  a   price   which  would  be  unre- 
munerative  to  any  other  portion  of  the  wheat-growing  zone.     Distance 


—  10  — 

being  no  longer  a  factor,  whenever  the  test  comes  under  which  the  fittest 
survive,  wheat  growing  in  California  would  continue  in  this  State  long 
after  its  discontinuance  elsewhere.  At  the  same  market  rate,  therefore, 
the  wheat  producer  of  California  receives  a  higher  reward  for  his  labor. 
Keeping  in  mind  the  position  taken  at  the  outset,  that  we  are  saying 
these  things  to  an  intending  emigrant,  to  a  farmer  in  Iowa  or  Illinois, 
can  we  not  say  with  truth  to  him  that  the  labor  he  puts  upon  his  fields  in 
those  States  would  reward  him  better  if  expended  upon  fields  in  Califor- 
nia? And  is  this  not  an  inducement  which  would  lead  him  to  decide  in 
our  favor  when  seeking  a  new  home?  Let  us  reverse  the  illustration. 
Suppose  that  in  an  Eastern  State,  in  a  single  county  of  Ohio,  Minnesota 
or  New  York,  there  is  a  climate  where  storms  in  the  harvest  period  are 
unknown,  where  hailstorms  and  windstorms  do  not  waste  the  ripening 
grain,  and  where  the  gang  plow  and  seeder  may  be  run  in  seeding  season 
and  the  harvester  may  be  run  in  harvest  time,  would  other  land  in  that 
country  bear  an  equal  rate  to  that  lying  under  this  favored  zone  ?  I  re- 
peat again,  what  cannot  be  too  strongly  impressed,  that  modern  methods 
of  transportation  produce  economies  of  production,  equal  to  nearness  of 
contact,  and  that  the  competition  of  climates  between  different  portions 
of  the  earth  is  present  in  every  market. 

The  ultimate  operation  of  this  principle  will  be  to  produce  every  article 
where  its  production  affords  the  greatest  reward  to  the  labor  devoted  to 
its  production.  No  fiscal  policy  or  tariff  device  will  very  long  delay,  nor 
eventually  wholly  prevent,  the  universal  sway  of  this  principle  of  pro- 
duction. Bach  object  of  human  desire  wnll  be  produced  in  the  country 
where  its  production  costs  the  minimum  of  human  effort.  This  principle 
is  inherent  in  the  human  mentality.  It  is  inseparable  from  human 
desire,  because  it  is  the  desire  of  mankind  to  get  the  maximum  return 
from  the  minimum  outlay  of  effort.  Mankind,  as  a  whole,  will  then 
sooner  or  later,  adopt  this  principle  of  production,  appealing  to  that 
natural  subsidy,  which  favoring  conditions  bounteously  confer  upon 
those  products,  grown  in  the  soil  and  in  the  climate  most  promotive  of 
their  growth.  Apply  this  principle  to  the  entire  round  of  production  in 
California,  and  you  will  perceive  that  the  orchards  of  California  and  the 
vineyards  of  this  State  are  in  immediate  competition  in  the  markets  of 
the  world  with  the  orchards  and  vineyards  of  every  other  country  ;  that 
it  is  possible,  therefore,  for  us  to  become  the  orchard  for  the  whole 
world,  in  its  broad  and  commercial  sense.  The  modern  economic 
methods  of  transportation  have  placed  orchards,  physically  distant  from 
each  other,  side  by  side  in  a  commercial  sense,  and  the  tendency  of  this 
large  factor  in  controlling  and  directing  the  industries  of  every  country 
cannot  be  thwarted  or  arrested.  This  force  is  the  great  basis  of  recipro- 
city toward  which  national  opinion  is  so  strongly  tending. 


— 11 


REDUCTION  OF   COST  OF  TRANSPORTATION. 

To  the  average  Eastern  mind,  California  and  its  sister  Pacific  States 
are  on  the  verge  of  the  continent.  Their  names  are  associated  with 
great  distance.  When  they  are  under  consideration  as  the  objective 
point  of  a  future  residence,  contemplation  is  associated  with  discouraging 
remoteness.  Between  California  and  the  fertile  area  of  the  Eastern 
States  there  lies  an  uninhabited  region.  Between  the  two  groups  of 
civilization,  that  facing  the  Atlantic  and  that  facing  the  Pacific  Ocean, 
there  are  1,500,000  square  miles  of  territory,  the  average  fertility  of  which 
is  less  than  one-fiftieth  the  average  fertility  of  the  territory  lying  east  of 
the  Missouri  river.  To  the  emigrant  from  an  Eastern  State  to  California, 
the  consideration  of  distance  involves  the  breaking  up  of  home  ties,  old 
associations,  old  acquaintanceship.  The  distance  is  too  great  for  the 
maintenance  of  old  associations.  Nor  are  these  things  even  the  most 
serious  source  of  discouragement.  The  people  of  the  East  regard  Cali- 
fornia as  being  under  special  disadvantage  with  reference  to  its  commer- 
cial relation  to  the  rest  of  the  world.  To  the  most  casual  observation, 
California  labors  under  a  great  disability  with  reference  to  transportation. 
It  pays  the  highest  price  for  all  supplies  imported,  and  it  submits  to  the 
greatest  discount  in  consequence  of  the  cost  of  transportation  upon  its 
exports.  But,  as  has  already  been  shown,  cost  in  its  commercial  sense, 
is  convertible  into  distance.  If  it  costs  the  same  to  ship  goods  from  San 
Francisco  to  New  York  as  from  the  Missouri  river  to  New  York,  then, 
commercially,  California  is  as  near  the  great  metropolis  of  the  country  as 
the  Missouri  river.  As  specially  instructive,  I  beg  leave  to  present  the 
following  terminal  rates  over  a  period  of  nine  years  from  1880  to  1889  : 


en 

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—  13  — 

From  the  foregoing  it  will  be  seen  that  the  rate  on  canned  goods  per  car- 
load in  iS8o  was  $300  per  car  to  the  Missouri  river,  to  St.  Louis,  to  Chicago, 
to  Cincinnati,  to  Pittsburg  and  to  New  York.  This  rate  had  descended  in 
1889  to  |200  per  car  to  these  six  principal  centers  of  distribution.  In  a  com- 
mercial sense,  therefore,  the  distance  to  all  these  places  became  equal,  not- 
withstanding the  difference  of  distance  from  Sacramento  to  the  Missouri 
river  as  against  New  York  is  2,000  miles.  Thus  a  distance  of  2,000  miles 
is  absolutely  ignored,  and  New  York  has  exactly  the  same  commercial 
relation  to  Sacramento  as  the  Missouri  river.  It  will  not  be  unprofitable 
here  to  reannounce  the  principle  that  economy  of  communication  is  the 
equivalent  of  physical  contigtiity,  for  in  the  instance  above  recited,  we  see 
that  the  cost  of  reaching  New  York  with  the  products  of  this  State  is  exactly 
the  same,  or  no  greater,  than  the  cost  of  reaching  a  point  two  thousand 
•miles  nearer  to  us. 

Glancing  at  the  entire  list,  we  find  that  canned  salmon  was  carried  in 

1880  at  the  rate  of  I300  per  car  to  the  six  cities  named,  and  that  the  rate 
last  year  was  |2oo  per  car;  that  the  rates  on  dried  fruits  in  1880  were  |6oo 
a  car  to  the  Missouri  river,  $650  to  St.  Louis,  $724  to  Pittsburg,  and  $800 
to  New  York,  and  that  they  descended  in  the  year  1889  to  ^280  a  car  to 
the  cities  named.  Green  fruit  (deciduous)  was  shown  like  favors.  The 
rate  on  raisins  to  the  six  cities  named  in  1880  was  ^600  a  car  to  the 
Missouri  river  and  |8oo  to  New  York.  In  18S9,  the  rates  were  equalized 
to  $280  to  each  of  the  cities  named.  On  vegetables,  the  rate  in  1881  was 
$gio  a  car  to  the  Missouri  river,  and  in  1889,  to  the  same  point,  the  rate 
was  $200  a  car.     Taking  this  last  instance  of  vegetables,  and  the  rate  in 

188 1  was  about  five  times  the  rate  charged  to-day.  Thus  the  vegetables 
produced  in  California  are  carried  to-day  at  about  twenty  per  cent  of 
what  was  claimed  to  be  the  proper  rate  eight  years  ago.  If  the  above 
comparisons  had  been  instituted  between  the  rates  of  1870  and  1890,  the 
decrease  would  have  been  much  more  significant  and  startling.  But  the 
other  side  of  the  fact  is  equally  significant.  The  rates  on  articles  of 
import  have  experienced  a  corresponding  decrease. 

The  chief  significance  of  all  this  is  in  the  question  of  the  elimination 
of  distance.  When  the  rate  to  Chicago  in  1881  on  vegetables  was  $$  per 
100  pounds,  or  $1,000  per  car,  the  commercial  distance  to  Chicago  was 
five  times  greater  than  in  1889,  when  the  rate  was  $1  per  100  pounds,  or 
$200  per  car.  The  actvjal  distance  to  Chicago  in  miles  is  2,275  miles.  The 
rate  in  1881  was  $5  per  100  pounds,  or  |i,ooo  per  car.  This  rate  having 
descended  in  1889  to  |20o  per  car,  or  one-fifth,  removed  Chicago  to 
within  455  miles  of  the  gardens  of  California,  thus  eliminating  and 
ignoring  1,820  miles  of  transportation,  on  the  basis  of  the  rate  in  i88i-. 

These  facts  disclose  a  tendency  in  transportation  to  base  all  rates  upon 
the  relation  K)f  markets  to  each  other  rather  than  the  distance  in  miles  be- 
tween them .  It  is  within  the  bounds  of  reasonable  probability  that  within 
a  few  years,  this  tendency  will  have  so  far  asserted  itself  that  the  only 
question  will  be  the  relation  between  the  points  of  production  and  points 
of  consumption,  with  scarcely  a  reference  to  the  distance  in  miles  which 


—  14  — 

separate  them.  Take,  for  example,  dried  fruit,  and  referring  to  the 
table,  see  how  this  tendency  has  already  produced  results.  In  1880,  the 
rate  on  dried  fruit  to  the  Missouri  river  was  $3  per  100  pounds,  or  $600 
per  car.  The  rate  to  New  York  was  $4  per  100  pounds,  or  $800  per  car- 
load. In  1889  the  rates  had  descended  to  an  equal  rate  of  $1.40  per  100 
pounds,  or  ^280  per  car.  This  readjustment  and  equalization  of  freight 
rates,  disregarding  the  difference  of  distance  between  the  points  named, 
was  controlled  and  adjusted  by  the  standard  of  the  commercial  relations 
between  the  producer  and  the  consumer,  since  difference  of  distance  is 
practically  lost  sight  of.  The  significance  of  this  tendency  to  the  indus- 
tries of  California,  both  as  to  its  downward  character  and  to  its  disregard 
of  distance,  cannot  be  overestimated.  It  means  that  in  the  near  future 
the  products  of  California  will  stand  in  the  markets  of  the  world  on 
terms  of  perfect  equality  as  to  the  cost  of  reaching  markets,  with  the 
products  of  all  other  countries. 


THE  INDUSTRIES  OF  CAIJFORNIA   AND  THEIR   FUTURE. 

Our  Eastern  friends,  even  many  of  our  own  citizens,  are  constantly 
predicting  the  speedy  approach  of  a  condition  of  overproduction.  This 
apprehension  both  at  home  and  abroad  has  exerted  a  strong  influence  in 
retarding  our  growth  and  development.  It  is  time  the  matter  was  placed 
at  rest,  and  the  question  which  confronts  us  at  the  outset  of  its  discussion 
is,  what  are  the  facts  and  what  are  the  most  reasonable  inferences  to  be 
drawn  from  these  facts?  Enterprising  men  everywhere  look  to  the 
future  with  the  most  serene  confidence,  and  when  that  confidence  is 
challenged  we  find  it  to  rest  in  the  great  common-sense  proposition  that 
no  country  has  ever  yet  been  ruined  by  its  excessive  fertility  or  the  ex- 
panded possibilities  of  its  climate. 

The  vast  diversity  of  agriculture  and  horticulture  in  California  places 
our  industries  in  competition  with  the  industries  of  nearly  every  climate 
and  zone  of  the  habitable  earth.  In  this  diversity  our  safety  resides.  As 
a  wheat-producing  country  alone  we  would  share  the  vicissitudes  of  the 
wheat  zones  of  the  earth.  Failure  of  crops  or  of  prices  would  inflict 
upon  us  constantly  recurring  years  of  loss,  but  our  climate  admits  of  the 
production  of  every  object  of  cultivation  grown  on  the  entire  face  of 
Europe.  The  list  embraces  many  articles  which  have  but  a  very  limited 
area  of  production  on  the  earth,  and,  fortunately  for  us,  these  articles 
are  in  the  list  of  those  which  cannot  be  produced  by  the  countries  sus- 
taining the  largest  populations  of  the  world. 

lyet  us  take  first  the  question  of  citrus  fruit.  That  industry  in  Califor- 
nia is  still  in  its  infancy,  notwithstanding  it  has  long  sinc^  passed  its 
experimental  stage.  Citrus  fruits  are  now  produced  in  commercial  quan- 
tities. Thirty  years  ago  there  was  imported  into  the  United  States  300,- 
000  boxes  of  citrus  fruit.  Last  year  Florida  contributed  to  supply  the 
demand  600,000  boxes  and  California   contributed  780,000  boxes.     Thus 


—  15  — 

the  country  into  which  thirty  years  agjo  were  imported  300,000  boxes  of 
citrus  fruit  produced  within  its  own  borders  last  year  1,380,000  boxes. 
What  were  the  facts  as  to  importation  in  the  same  year  ?  From  the 
report  of  the  Senate  Finance  Committee,  compiled  for  the  use  of  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States,  in  the  discussion  of  the  McKinley  Bill,  and 
gathered  from  the  most  authentic  sources,  to  wit,  the  custom-house 
returns  of  the  United  States,  it  is  shown  and  declared  that  in  1889  there 
was  imported  into  the  United  States  of  citrus  fruits  3,354,963  boxes  and 
113,927  barrels.  Thus,  notwithstanding  the  contribution  of  Florida  and 
California  to  the  volume  of  supply,  the  importation  of  citrus  fruits  into 
the  United  vStates  was  more  than  eleven  times  that  noted  prior  to  the  be- 
ginning of  home  production.  In  the  face  of  these  facts,  is  it  competent 
for  any  man  to  predict  overproduction  of  oranges  and  lemons  in  Cali- 
fornia and  Florida  ?  The  entire  demand  of  the  United  States  thirty  years 
ago  was  imported.  When  this  country  becomes  a  producer  to  the  extent 
of  1,380,000  boxes,  the  importation  in  the  same  time  has  arisen  to 
nearly  4,000,000  boxes,  thus  constantly  widening  the  margin  in  favor  of 
the  home  producer  and  forever  silencing  all  prophecies  of  overproduction. 
I  take  the  liberty  of  introducing  here  the  testimony  of  an  intelligent 
representative  of  Southern  California.  Major  E.  W.  Jones,  President 
of  the  Los  Angeles  Chamber  of  Commerce,  under  date  of  August  21st, 
says  :  .       • 

"The  citrus  culture  of  Southern  California  has  been  successfully 
"  prosecuted  for  so  many  years  as  to  establish  the  fact  beyond  con- 
"  troversy  that  our  climate  and  soils  are  adapted  to  it.  Over  100  years 
*'  ago  the  Mission  Fathers  planted  orange  trees  at  San  Gabriel,  ten 
"  miles  east  of  Los  Angeles,  and  some  of  these  trees  are  still  living,  in 
"  spite  of  half  a  century  of  neglect.  In  the  past  thirty-five  years  only 
' '  has  citrus  culture  in  California  been  engaged  in  as  a  commercial  ven- 
"  ture.  Sixteen  years  ago  orchardists  in  the  San  Gabriel' valley  and  Los 
*'  Angeles  city  found  markets  for  their  fruits  and  realized  $1,200  an  acre 
"  for  oranges.  The  fruit  on  about  thirty  acres  was  sold  at  that 
' '  price.  That  was  the  first  opportunity  for  reaching  the  outside  markets. 
"  Since  then  the  planting  of  citrus  orchards  all  through  Southern  Cali- 
"  fornia  has  been  going  on  until  now  in  Los  Angeles  county  alone  there 
"  are  eighteen  thousand  acres.  The  shipments  of  citrus  fruit,  including 
"  lemons  and  limes,  last  year  were  827,000  boxes  from  Southern  Califor- 
' '  nia.  Leading  shippers  of  our  section  estimate  the  crop  of  next  year 
"  to  be  4,000  carloads.  Markets  for  the  fruits  and  facilities  for  reaching 
"  them  increase  in  greater  proportion  than  the  production,  while  the  cost 
"  of  transportation  is  continually  cheapening." 

The  second  instance  to  be  cited  here  will  relate  to  raisins.  In  1874  we 
shipped  East  200  pounds  of  raisins.  In  1888  we  shipped  18,000,000 
pounds,  and  the  extent  to  which  we  failed  to  supply  the  home  market  is 
fully  illustrated  by  the  report  of  the  Finance  Committee,  already  quoted, 
wherein  it  is  declared  that  there  was  actually  imported  into   the  United 


—  16  — 

States  in  the  year  1889  34,393,500  pounds  of  raisins.  When,  therefore, 
California  has  trebled  its  present  product  of  raisins,  it  will  barely  equal 
the  importation.  To  state  this  in  a  different  form  :  The  volume  of  im- 
portation is  twice  that  of  the  product  of  California.  Since  California 
contributes  to  the  demand  18,000,000  pounds  at  the  present  rate  of  pro- 
duction, and  since  there  were,  in  round  numbers,  35,000,000  pounds  im- 
ported, there  is  on  the  present  basis  of  consumption  a  perfectly  safe  and 
certain  demand  in  the  United  States  for  three  times  the  vineyard  capacity 
now  existing.  When,  therefore,  we  are  told  by  the  Eastern  and  home 
objector  that  the  industry  of  raisin -growing  will  be  overdone,  let  us 
remember  that  the  demand  will  increase,  and  that  the  present  demand  in 
the  United  States  is  three  times  our  present  capacity  for  production. 
There  is  therefore  room  for  three  vineyards  for  every  one  now  cultivated 
in  California. 

How  does  the  case  stand  as  to  grapes  and  prunes  ?  These  will  be  con- 
sidered together,  simply  because  they  were  treated  together  in  the  report 
of  the  Finance  Committee  to  the  Senate.  The  importation  of  these  two 
articles  in  1889  was  47,493,210  pounds.  Are  we  in  danger  of  overproduc- 
ing grapes  and  prunes  while  the  fiscal  reports  of  the  nation  exhibit  this 
vast  volume  of  importation  ? 

Take  even  the  case  of  lumber.  Those  but  partially  informed  will 
naturally  conclude  that .  the  forests  of  our  country  supply  all  our  home 
demands,  and  yet  in  1889  the  report  already  quoted  states  that  there  was 
imported  into  the  United  States  537,000,000  feet  of  lumber,  the  Custom- 
house valuation  of  which  was ^1,050,000.  Of  olive  oil  there  was  imported 
into  the  United  States  454,000  gallons,  of  sugar  9,128,000  pounds  and  of 
wool  132,817,456  pounds. 

Are  our  industries  likely  to  be  overdone  while  this  vast  volume  of 
importation  of  the  industries  of  other  countries  must  be  availed  of  to 
supply  the  home  demand  ?  But  there  is  another  and  a  better  view  to  be 
presented  of  the  future  of  our  leading  industries.  The  following  tabular 
statement  presents  under  examination  a  very  hopeful  exhibit : 


17 


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—  18  — 

Reviewing  this  table,  let  it  be  noted  that  in  1880  we  shipped  590,000 
pounds  of  dried  fruit,  and  that  the  shipments  of  1889  reach  over  33,000,00a 
of  pounds,  or  sixty-five  times  the  volume  of  the  shipment  of  1880.  Thus 
we  supplied  to  the  markets  of  the  Bast  in  1889  sixty-five  times  the  annual 
volume  supplied  eight  years  previous.  Of  green  fruit,  the  amount  of 
shipments  in  1880  was  5,180,000  pounds,  and  this  had  arisen  in  1889  to 
over  50,000,000  pounds,  or  ten  times  the  amount  shipped  nine  years 
before.  Of  citrus  fruits  in  1882  we  shipped  917,000  pounds,  and  in  1889, 
seven  years  later,  the  amount  had  arisen  to  fully  20,000,000  pounds.  In 
1880  the  shipment  of  raisins  was  less  than  800,000  pounds,  and  in  1889  it 
had  reached  18,000,000  pounds.  The  shipment  of  vegetables  in  1880  was 
2,880,000  pounds,  while  in  1887  it  reached  the  enormous  quantity  of 
33,000,000  pounds.  The  commercial  forces  and  the  industrial  conditions, 
which  have  conferred  upon  us  this  vast  increment  of  exportation,  are 
still  actively  in  existence.  The  analogies  all  point  toward  a  still  greater 
increase.  Upon  this  subject  of  the  future  of  the  fruit  industry  of  Cali- 
fornia, I  take  the  liberty  of  introducing  the  testimony  of  an  experienced 
fruit  grower  and  fruit  shipper  in  California.  Under  date  of  July  25th,  H. 
Weinstock,  a  well-known  merchant  and  fruit  grower,  of  Sacramento, 
says  :  "  You  say,  '  suppose  the  fruit  product  of  California  double  within 
*'  'the  next  five  years,  will  the  market  be  as  good  as  at  present,  due  allow- 
**  *ance  being  made  for  the  growth  of  population  and  growth  of  market, 
"  *no  unusual  cause  favoring  the  market  being  considered  ?  '  Taking  the 
"past  as  a  guide  for  the  future,  my  answer  to  this  question  would  be  that 
"  double  the  quantity  of  California  fruit  can  be  as  profitably  and  as 
"advantageously  handled  five  years  hence  as  at  present.  Though  our 
"market  compared  with  what  it  was  five  years  ago  is  wonderfully 
"  widened,  it  is  limited  as  yet  compared  with  the  possibilities.  There  are 
"many  towns,  and  cities  and  places  that  have  not  yet  seen  California 
"green  fruits,  and  who  can  use  quantities  of  it.  The  next  five  years  will 
"see  a  wonderful  progress  made  in  connection  with  fruit  culture  in  many 
"directions.  We  will  have  quicker  railroad  time  on  freight  shipments. 
"  We  will  have  more  scientifically  constructed  freight  cars.  We  will  have 
"  much  lower  transportation  rates.  We  will  have  larger  quantities  of  finer 
"fruits.  We  will  know  still  better  how  to  pick  and  pack  them.  There 
"will  be  still  greater  competition  among  fruit  buyers  in  the  East, 
"  and  this  keener  competition  will  force  these  buyers  to  send  out  laterally, 
*'  so  to  speak,  for  trade  into  every  nook  and  corner  east  of  the  Rocky 
"Mountains,  until  California  fruits  will  become  as  thoroughly  distributed 
"in  the  East  as  are  the  oranges  of  Florida  and  the  grapes  of  Spain.  " 

"  Our  markets  for  green  fruits  are  being  increased  with  remarkable 
"  rapidity.  Let  me  illustrate  this  last  statement.  In  the  fall  of  1886, 
"  while  in  Chicago  for  the  purpose  of  looking  into  the  serious  situation 
"  on  the  fruit  question  existing  at  that  time,  Mr.  Washington  Porter, 
"  who  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  highest  authorities  on  the  marketing 
"  of  California  fruits  in  the  East,  and  who,  on  being  asked  why  so  many 
"  carloads  of  fruit  that  were  then   rotting  in    Chicago   for  the   want  of 


—  19  —  . 

"  buyers  were  not  shipped  Bast,  said  in  reply,  that  experience  had  shown 
"  that  the  Atlantic  markets  could  not  handle  carloads  of  fruit,  and  that 
'*  all  that  could  be  successfully  marketed  east  of  Chicago,  or  even  in  such 
"  great  cities  as  New  York  and  Boston,  were  daily  express  lots  from  Chi- 
"  cago.  He  said  that  California  was  already  raising  too  much  fruit,  and 
"  that  we  could  never  hope  to  successfully  market  the  vast  acreage  at  that 
"  time  already  planted  and  that  must  come  into  bearing  the  following 
'  •  several  years.  Fortunately  for  California,  time  has  shown  that  the 
"  gentleman  was  a  false  prophet,  that  the  trouble  was  not  with  the  mar- 
"  ket,  but  the  manner  in  which  the  market  was  handled,  A  change  in 
"  our  method  of  selling  California  fruits  in  the  East  has  brought  about  a 
"  wondrous  change  in  results.  Aside  from  the  express  lots  that  were 
"  sent  on  daily  from  Chicago,  but  one  carload  of  green  fruit  was  shipped 
"  east  of  that  point  in  1886  and  was  sold  at  a  loss.  In  1887  the  method 
"  of  selling  California  fruit  by  auction  in  the  Atlantic  cities  was  first 
"  introduced,  and  that  year  100  carloads  were  sold  in  Boston  and  New 
"  York  at  very  satisfactory  prices.  In  1888  200  carloads  were  sold  in 
"  Boston  and  New  York  at  still  more  satisfactory  prices.  In  1889  400 
"  carloads  were  sold  in  these  markets  at  a  higher  average  of  prices  than 
"  ever  before  reached  fn  the  sale  of  California  fruits,  and  this  year,  I  am 
"  told,  800  carloads  can  be  disposed  of  at  equally  satisfactory  prices." 

The  facts  are  then  that  the  importation  of  the  products  of  California 
have  constantly  augmented,  that  the  shipments  of  our  products  have 
increased  year  by  year,  and  that  increase  has  been  attended  by  a  constant 
decrease  of  rates.  Recurring  to  Mr.  Weinstock's  testimony,  we  find  in 
1886  one  carload  of  California  fruit  went  to  the  markets  east  of  Chicago 
and  was  sold  at  a  loss.  We  find  that  up  to  this  time  in  the  year  1890, 
and  only  four  years  from  the  former  date,  800  carloads  were  sold  in  the 
markets  of  Boston  and  New  York  at  the  highest  prices  ever  realized. 
There  is  not  a  single  statement  of  fact  which  may  be  quoted  in  justifica- 
tion of  any  apprehension  that  any  of  our  industries  are  in  danger  of 
being  overdone.  On  the  contrary,  we  are  contributing  to  human  neces- 
sities, producing  the  legitimate  objects  of  human  desire,  and  we  are  pro- 
ducing these  under  conditions  so  favorable  to  their  production  as  in 
themselves  to  afford  a  guarantee  against  successful  competition. 

While  the  foregoing  relates  chiefly  to  the  production  of  fruit,  the  con- 
ditions influencing  other  products,  and  having  a  direct  bearing  upon 
their  future,  are  completely  analagous.  It  certainly  cannot  be  said  of 
our  State  that  its  industries  are  overcrowded,  when  its  products  are 
imported  into  the  United  States  in  a  vast  volume.  It  cannot  be  said 
that  the  industries  of  our  State  are  overcrowded,  when  it  is  remembered 
that  duringthe  year  1889  we  imported  into  California  for  the  consumption 
of  our  own  people  $800,000  worth  of  eggs,  and  from  $150,000  to  $200,000 
worth  of  poultry.  We  are  large  importers  of  butter,  of  lard  and  of  pork. 
And  beyond  all  this,  we  are  very  large  producers  of  raw  materials,  which 
sooner  or  later  will  be  economically  and  profitably  manufactured  here. 
The  exportation  of  raw  material  to  become  valuable  by  added  labor  and 


.—  20  — 

skill  in  other  countries,  is  a  process  of  impoverishment.  Keeping  in 
view  that  we  are  now  addressing  our  Eastern  friends  and  answering 
Eastern  inquirers,  we  may  say  to  them  in  perfect  good  faith  that  our 
manufactures  are  largely  in  their  infancy,  and  that  the  conditions  here 
favor  the  successful  prosecution  of  manufactures.  With  respect  of 
manufactures,  we  are  perhaps  behind  any  or  all  of  the  Eastern  States. 
Our  people  are  beginning  to  realize  this.  We  are  beginning  to  under- 
stand that  when  we  ship  away  from  our  State  raw  material  to  be  tanned 
into  leather,  and  the  leather  to  be  converted  into  footwear,  we  are 
shipping  from  us  the  opportunity  of  creating  wealth,  an  amount  which 
is  readily  measured  by  the  difference  between  the  value  of  the  rawhides 
and  the  value  of  the  footwear  manufactured  from  the  rawhides.  Like- 
wise the  wool  which  is  raised  by  our  people  is  shipped  in  the  staple,  and 
we  lose  the  opportunity  of  adding  labor  and  skill,  which  would  give  us 
the  value  of  the  cloth  manufactured.  At  the  end  of  a  year,  in  the  ledger 
account  of  the  industries  of  a  great  commonwealth,  the  test  of  its 
wealth-producing  capacity  is  the  amount  of  value  added  to  raw  material 
by  labor,  skill  and  intelligently  directed  industry.  Our  protection  of 
breadstuffs  is  certainly  not  overdone.  We  would  find  it  a  difficult  task 
to  overdo  the  production  *of  precious  metals,  the 'manufacture  of  iron, 
or  manufactures  of  lead  and  copper.  Thus  we  may  truthfully  proclaim 
to  the  world  that  California  offers  an  opportunity  for  field  culture,  manu- 
factures and  mining  such  as  no  other  State  in  the  Union  may  claim;  that 
none  of  the  industrial  pursuits  of  our  country  are  even  at  the  meridian 
of  their  development;  that  all  without  exception  await  the  vitalizing 
influence  of  enterprising  capital  and  industry. 


THE  QUESTION   OF   I.ABOR. 

For  many  years  the  people  of  the  world  were  taught  to  believe  that 
California  was  not  an  inviting  field  for  honest  industry  in  the  realm 
of  common  labor.  This  was  true  of  its  early  history.  The  distance  to 
this  State  and  the  cost  of  getting  here,  and  the  rate  paid  to  common 
labor  in  this  State  were  all  such  as  to  operate  as  a  discouragement  to  the 
coming  of  an  intelligent,  self-respecting  European  labor.  The  compe- 
tition also  of  Chinese  labor  was  an  additional  discouragement.  But  it 
is  chiefly  with  the  labor  marketof  to-day  that  we  are  to  deal,  and  while  its 
adequate  treatment  would  be  beyond  the  reasonable  space  allotted  in  a 
paper  of  this  kind,  some  of  its  most  salient  features  will  be  considered. 

It  is  a  regrettable  fact  that  the  unions  of  skilled  laborers  are  opposed 
to  all  efforts  to  induce  their  craftsmen  to  come  to  this  State.  Their  ob- 
jection, if  we  are  to  trust  the  expressions  of  their  representatives  in  con- 
ventions, is  that  the  coming  of  additional  men  produces  a  condition  of 
things  menacing  to  the  maintenance  of  high  wages.  The  fundamental 
error  of  all  this  is  that  growth  of  population  in  any  country  is  attended 
by  the   expansion  of  its    industries  and  the  increase   of  employment 


—  21  — 

rather  than  its  decrease.  The  coming  of  additional  population  to  Cali- 
fornia to  engage  in  any  pursuit  or  undertaking,  of  any  nature  whatever, 
is  an  unmixed  good.  The  chief  obstacle  in  the  Pacific  States  to  the  suc- 
cessful prosecution  of  all  enterprise  is  the  sparsity  of  population.  There 
are  economies  of  production,  possible  to  large  populations,  which  are 
unknown  to  thinly  settled  countries.  The  best  market  for  the  products 
of  every  country  is  the  home  market.  Take  the  cases  already  referred 
to.  We  ship  wool  from  California  and  submit  to  a  reduction  equal  to 
the  cost  of  freight  and  commission,  and  we  wear  the  clothing  manufac- 
tured from  that  wool,  to  which  has  been  added  the  skill  and  industry 
which  have  enriched  another  country,  with  the  freight  cost  and  commis- 
sion added  to  the  manufactured  article.  The  difference  between  the 
economy  of  manufacturing  at  home,  therefore,  represents  the  cost  of  ship- 
ping raw  material  to  the  place  of  manufacture  and  the  cost  of  shipping  the 
manufactured  article  or  clothing  back  again,  and  also  represents  the  loss 
of  the  opportunity  to  create  wealth  by  the  amount  of  the  difference 
between  the  staple  and  the  fabric.  This  in  our  case  constitutes  a  very 
large  margin  in  favor  of  manufactures.  Our  population  is  estimated  at 
1,250,000.  Let  us  for  a  moment  anticipate  the  result  if  that  population 
were  doubled,  and  the  population  of  California  stood  in  the  census 
report  at  2,500,000.  Would  the  natural  resources  of  the  country  be  inad- 
equate to  the  employment  of  its  people  ?  In  the  first  place,  we  would 
have  an  accession  of  1,250,000  home  consumers.  We  would  have  double 
our  present  capital.  We  would  have  double  the  supporting  popula- 
tion for  every  species  of  industry  and  enterprise.  The  local  rates 
of  transportation  would  at  once  descend,  because  the  same  fixed  charges 
would  answer  for  the  new  as  well  as  for  the  present  demand ;  and  the 
net  result  of  that  augmentation  of  population,  that  enterprise  and  capital, 
that  addition  to  every  element  of  civilized  life,  would  be  an  increase  in 
geometrical  rather  than  arithmetical  ratio  ;  the  products  of  all  employ- 
ments would  be  more  than  doubled,  and  the  opportunity  and  condition 
of  the  labor  of  California  improved.  The  chief  difficulty  of  the  present 
is  the  circumscribed  character  of  labor's  opportunity.  Give  us  twice  the 
number  of  our  present  cities,  or  double  the  population  of  those  already 
existing,  and  the  possibilities  of  all  life  would  be  greatly  expanded.  The 
chief  difficulty  of  the  present  is  the  irregular  character  of  employment. 
The  fruit  industry  of  our  State  gives  greater  proportionate  employment 
to  labor  than  the  cereal  industry. 

I  have  taken  a  single  instance,  but  at  the  same  time  the  most  notable, 
of  the  irregularity  of  employments.  The  vineyard  owned  by  Senator  Stan- 
ford is  the  largest  in  the  world.  It  covers  3,900  acres  of  bearing  vines.  It  is 
operated  under  a  single  control,  and  is  the  largest  operation  of  its  kind 
known.  The  statistical  facts  relating  to  it  would  be  the  equivalent  of 
statistical  facts  relating  to  39  vineyards  of  loo  acres  each,  and  the  facts 
are  as  follows  :  Exclusive  of  any  labor,  employed  in  planting,  or  graft- 
ing old  vines,  the  operations  of  the  vineyard  require  the  labor  of  135  men 


—  22  — 

for  six  months  ;  that  is  the  maximum  requirement  of  the  period  of  culti- 
vation ;  then  comes  the  vintage.  This  requires  the  steady  employment 
of  500  men  every  part  of  two  months,  but  for  three  weeks  of  that  period, 
the  demand  will  be  for  700  men.  For  steady  annual  employment,  but 
seventy  men  are  required.  Here  we  have  a  minimum  of  annual  employ- 
ment equal  to  seventy  men,  for  the  period  of  cultivation  135  men,  and  a 
maximum  during  the  vintage  of  700  men.  The  maximum  is  ten  times 
the  minimum  in  this  case.  There  are  about  200,000  acres  of  bearing 
vineyard  in  this  State.  Carrying  the  proportions  derived  from  an  exhibit 
of  the  great  vineyard  into  the  entire  vineyard  interests  of  the  State,  and 
the  200,000  acres  of  vineyard  in  this  State  would  give  us  annual  employ- 
ment for  3,500  men.  It  will  at  once  be  seen  that  if  grape-growing  was 
the  sole  industry  of  the  State,  the  3,500  men  who  would  find  in  it  steady 
employment,  would  be  the  only  available  labor  for  the  vintage,  and  they 
would  be  grossly  inadequate.  As  has  already  been  shown,  the  vintage 
requires  ten  times  as  many  men  as  the  industry  affords  annual  employ- 
ment. It  would  be  impossible  to  have  the  labor  of  nine  men  available 
for  a  few  months  in  the  vintage  season  for  one  man  who  might  find 
steady  employment.  The  value  of  a  diversified  industry  comes  into 
view,  and  with  the  accession  of  populations,  industries  become  more 
diversified.  In  this  way,  history  has  repeated  itself  in  every  State  of 
this  Union,  The  statistics  of  employments  in  every  State  show  an 
increase  of  diversity  exactly  proportioned  to  the  volume  of  population. 
In  their  early  history,  and  when  population  was  sparse,  in  the  western 
states  of  Indiana,  Illinois,  etc.,  the  great  staples  of  wheat,  corn  and 
pork  were  the  objects  of  cultivation.  Some  of  these  states  have  a  history 
of  over  eighty  years  ;  they  have  completed  eight  decades ;  and  the  testi- 
mony of  eight  census  ascertainments  declare  unmistakably  that  as  their 
populations  have  increased,  the  diversity  of  employments  has  corres- 
pondingly augmented.  With  us  the  diversity  of  field  culture  enables  us 
to  achieve  our  present  measure  of  success,  but  we  are  under  serious  dis- 
advantage with  respect  of  labor.  This  disadvantage,  however,  is  rapidly 
passing  away,  but  the  existing  condition  plainly  invites  intelligent 
industry.  For  the  past  ten  years  the  conditions  of  the  labor  market  have 
been  growing  better.  The  influx  of  the  Chinese  has  been  permanently 
and  efiectively  arrested.  The  increase  of  manufactures,  which  accom- 
panies the  growth  of  the  State,  offers  with  the  lapse  of  each  year  more 
steady  and  more  profitable  employment  to  labor. 


AREA,    POPULATION   AND   IRRIGATION. 

Up  to  within  a  comparatively  recent  period,  the  territorial  area  of 
California  was  placed  at  181,000  square  miles,  or  115,000,000  acres.  A 
more  recent,  and  perhaps  a  more  accurate  demonstration  of  the  fact, 
places  the  territorial  area  at  157,000  square  miles,  or  100,000,000  acres. 
Instituting  a  comparison  with  some  of  the  older  States,  and  selecting  the 


—  23  — 

State  of  Ohio,  because  it  is  neither  the  largest  iior  the  smallest,  but  ap- 
proximately an  average  State,  and  California  embraces  four  times,  the 
area  of  Ohio,  the  ascertained  area  of  the  latter  State  being  24,640  ooo' 
acres. 

The  question  of  the  proportion  of  the  arable  land  in  the  State  of  Cali- 
fornia to  the  entire  acreage,  has  been  much  discussed.  The  pioneer 
population  regarded  but  a  very  small  portion  as  suitable  for  cultivation. 
Many  large  areas  rejected  as  possessing  no  agricultural  value  whatever 
in  the  first  decade  of  American  occupation  here  are  now  among  the  most 
productive  and  valuable  of  any  lands  in  the  State.  The  methods  of 
agriculture  pursued  here  are  of  comparatively  recent  discovery  and  prac- 
tice. Being  the  result  of  experiment  under  climatic  conditions  wholly 
different  from  those  obtaining  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  the  agriculture 
of  California  may  be  said  to  be  distinctive  and  peculiar.  As  now 
admitted  to  be  applicable  to  the  varying  conditions  of  the  different  por- 
tions of  the  State,  the  area  of  arable  land  in  the  State  may  be  presented 
as  follows  : 

San  Joaquin  valley 6,845,280  acres 

Sacramento  valley 5,598,720     " 

Coast  valleys,  including  Salinas,  Napa,  Rus- 
sian River  and  Santa  Clara 5,000,000    " 

Lands  lying  between  the  alluvial  lands  of  the 
Sacramento  valley  and  the  San  Joaquin 
valley  and  below  the  line  of  an  equal  ele- 
vation at  2,000  feet  6,000,000     " 

Between  the  line   of  an  equal   elevation  at 

from  two  to  four  thousand  feet 7,000,000     " 

Santa  Barbara,  Los  Angeles  and  San   Diego 

coast  climate 3,000,000     * ' 

Total 33,444,000     " 

Thus  the  present  ascertained  area  of  arable  lands  aggregates  33, 444,000 
acres.  The  irrigable  area  of  the  San  Joaquin  valley  by  definite  ascertain- 
ment is  5,545,280  acres.  In  a  large  proportion  of  this  area  there  is  suffi- 
cient annual  rainfall  to  mature  annual  crops  of  cereals,  but  the  acreage 
above  shown  as  irrigable  is  irrigable  from  the  water  shed  of  the  western 
flank  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  mountains.  To  this  must  be  added  about 
1,500,000  acres  on  the  west  side  of  the  San  Joaquin  valley,  excluded  from 
the  State  Engineer's  report  as  not  receiving  sufficient  annual  precipita- 
tion of  moisure  to  mature  crops  of  cereals,  but  irrigable  from  storage 
reservoirs  in  the  Coast  Range. 

The  acreage  of  the  Sacramento  valley  is  5,598,720  acres.  This  entire 
acreage  receives  sufficient  rainfall  to  mature  annual  crops  of  cereals. 
The  Sacramento  and  the  San  Joaquin  valleys  together  comprise  twelve 
per  cent  of  the  entire  acreage  of  this  State. 


—  24  — 

Of  the  arid  land  south  of  the  Tehachapi  not  included  in  the  above 
■calculation,  there  are  at  least  5,000,000  acres  reclaimable  by  irrigation. 

The  possible  arable  acreage  of  California  may  be  therefore  set  down  at 
38,000,000  acres. 

Much  of  the  timbered  slopes  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  Mountains  and  also 
of  the  Coast  Range  when  cleared,  are  suitable  for  the  production  of  red 
clover,  timothy  and  many  of  the  fruits  of  the  temperate  zone.  Their 
timber  resources,  however,  are  the  source  of  great  wealth,  the  annual 
value  of  the  lumber  produced  in  the  forests  being  estimated  for  several 
years  at  |7,ooo,ooo  per  annum. 

There  is  no  portion  of  California  which  would  not  be  greatly  benefited 
by  the  development  of  systems  of  irrigation.  The  valley  of  the  Po, 
embraced  within  the  provinces  of  Lombardy,  Piedmont  and  Valentia,  in 
Italy,  comprises  5,120,000  acres,  or  380,000  acres  less  than  the  arable 
acreage  of  the  Sacramento  valley.  The  two  valleys  of  the  Po  and  the 
Sacramento  have  many  points  in  similarity.  First,  the  area  is  about 
equal.  Second,  the  single  central  drainage  runs  through  the  entire 
length  of  each,  with  lateral  tributaries  from  the  mountains  on  both  sides. 
The  annual  precipitation  of  rain  on  the  valley  of  the  Po  is  about  twice 
that  received  in  the  Sacramento  valley.  The  river  Po  has  thirty  very 
considerable  tributaries.  The  Sacramento  has  ten  considerable  tributa- 
ries. The  arable  area  in  acreage  is  in  favor  of  the  Sacramento  valley. 
Close  resemblance  may  be  observed  between  the  fertility  of  the  soils, 
the  clemency  of  winter  climate,  the  tropical  heat  of  the  summer,  the 
facilities  of  transportation  to  the  seaboard,  etc.,  and  the  contiguity 
to  the  seacoast.  But  with  these,  parallels  cease.  The  population  of 
the  valley  of  the  Po  exceeds  9,000,000  inhabitants,  while  the  popula- 
tion of  the  Sacramento  is  less  than  200,000.  Over  8,000,000  of  the  pop- 
ulation of  Italy  are  registered  as  engaged  in  unskilled  occupations  or 
in  the  production  of  raw  materials,  and  of  these,  over  one-half  are  cred- 
ited to  the  valley  of  the  Po.  Thus,  over  4,000,000  of  inhabitants  find  in 
the  irrigated  area  profitable  employment  for  their  labor,  where  over 
a  like  area  in  California,  depending  wholly  upon  the  annual  precipita- 
tion of  rain,  200,000  people  begin  to  feel  what  is  called  the  pressure  of 
population. 

Reduced  to  cultivation  by  systems  of  irrigation,  and  Sacramento  and 
the  San  Joaquin  valleys  could  be  occupied  by  20,000,000  of  people,  with- 
out exceeding  the  density  of  the  population  of  the  valley  of  the  Po. 

Concerning  the  coast  counties,  the  most  considerable  valleys  are  those 
of  Salinas,  Santa  Clara,  Napa  and  Sonoma;  that  is  to  say,  Santa  Clara, 
Napa  and  Sonoma  present  the  greatest  density  of  rural  population  in 
California.  They  are  under  the  highest  state  of  cultivation  in  conformity 
with  the  most  approved  methods  of  agriculture  and  horticulture  as  justi- 
fied by  experience  and  developed  by  practice.  They  are  devoted  chiefly 
to  the  production  of  wines  and  fruits,  and  while  wine  making  and  fruit 
growing  are  not  by  any  means  confined  to  them,  they  furnish  an  excel- 
lent illustration  of  the  superior  return  made  to  labor  by  the  diligent  and 


—  25  — 

intelligent  cultivation  of  that  great  diversity  of  product  so  favored  by 
the  climate  of  California.  The  fruit  and  the  wine  product  of  the  year 
1888  aggregated  in  value  |25,ooo,ooo.  Of  this  sum,  at  least  sixty  per 
cent,  or  ^15,000,000,  is  to  be  credited  to  the  three  valleys  under  con- 
sideration . 

The  acreage  of  California  devoted  to  barley,  corn,  oats,  rye  and  wheat 
aggregates  2,560,000  acres.  The  value  of  the  product  for  the  year  1888 
was  |49, 000,000.  The  acreage  devoted  to  fruit  is  about  240,000  acres 
equal  to  about  nine  per  cent  of  the  acreage  devoted  to  cereals,  and  yet 
the  product  of  the  orchards  and  vineyards  was  valued  at  ^25,009,000,  or 
fifty  per  cent  of  the  value  of  the  crop  of  cereals  for  that  year. 

The  distinctively  agricultural  population,  excluding  those  engaged  in 
horticulture,  in  this  State,  is  less  than  100,000  inhabitants,  including 
juvenile  members  of  families  and  agricultural  laborers.  And  yet  care- 
fully compiled  statistics  of  the  value  of  the  product  of  field  culture,, 
excluding  fruit,  for  the  year  1888,  exhibit  the  following  : 

Wheat ^32,000,000 

Cattle   and  sheep 30,000,000 

Barley   10,000,000 

Cereals  unspecified    7,530,000 

Wool 5,000,000 

Dairy  produce 6,000,000 

Total 190,530,000 

The  operative  mining  population  of  California,  including  as  above 
specified,  minors  and  employed  laborers,  is  less  than  80,000.  The  pro- 
duct of  their  labor  compiled  from  authentic  sources,  is  as  follows  : 

Gold  and  silver ^20,000,000 

Quicksilver 1,300,000 

Bullion   and  lead   1,250,000 

Other  base  metals 1,000,000 

Coal 300,000 

Total ^23,850,000 

Thus  while  the  populations  engaged  in  the  two  classes  of  industry  are 
approximately  the  same,  tne  aggregate  of  the  mining  product  scarcely 
reaches  thirty  per  cent  of  the  value  of  the  field  culture.  But  if  we  add 
to  the  190,530,000  given  as  the  value  of  the  agricultural  products  of 
the  State  for  the  year  1888,  $25,000,000  the  ascertained  value  of  the 
fruit  and  wine  product,  we  have  1115,530,000,  as  to  the  total  annual  pro- 
duct of  field  culture,  thus  reducing  the  annual  output  of  the  mining 
industry  to  less  than  twenty-five  per  cent  of  the  value,  notwithstanding 
approximately  the  same  number  of  people  are  engaged  in  the  two  general 
classifications  of  industry. 


—  26  — 

In  the  foregoing,  the  acreage  of  arable  land  is  estimated  at  about 
39,000,000  acres.  The  great  diversity  of  product  favored  by  the  climate 
will  eventually  give  employment  to  a  much  larger  number  of  people 
than  could  find  employment  upon  a  similar  area  in  the  temperate  zones 
of  the  United  States.  The  State  of  Ohio,  which  has  already  been  used 
for  the  purpose  of  elucidation,  which  comparison  always  affords,  de- 
voted in  the  year  1888  3,577,000  acres  to  the  production  of  cereals,  includ- 
ing all  species  of  field  culture,  and  the  population  of  that  State  by 
the  estimates  of  1885  was  3,725,000,  or  approximately  three  times  the 
population  of  California.  A  cursory  comparison  with  other  States  of 
the  Union  appears  to  confirm  the  claim  quite  fully  that  California  has  the 
largest  area  of  land  under  cultivation  in  proportion  to  its  population  of 
any  portion  of  the  civilized  world,  and  that  the  product  of  industry 
per  capita  is  also  greater  than  that  which  rewards  the  industry  of  any 
other  people.  Yet  the  most  fertile  and  the  most  valuable  portions  of 
the  arable  land  of  California  are  wholly  unused,  owing  to  the  aridity  of 
the  climate.  This  has  reference  in  the  main  to  San  Joaquin  valley.  Of 
the  6,845,000  acres  of  alluvial  land  in  that  valley,  not  to  exceed  800,000 
acres  have  been  brought  under  cultivation. 

The  irrigable  area  of  the  San  Joaquin  Valley  from  water  now  available 
without  storage  is  placed  at  5,845,280  acres,  exceeding  the  area  of  the 
valley  of  the  Po  by  over  1,725,000  acres.  The  physical  features  of  the 
San  Joaquin  Valley  present  simply  a  monotonous  recurrence  of  level  and 
exceedingly  fertile  lands.  To  say  that  this  vast  area  of  fertile  land,  lying 
under  a  climate  favoring  the  greatest  possible  diversity  of  product,  is 
in  the  infancy  of  its  development,  would  not  be  so  nearly  an  accurate 
presentation  of  fact  as  to  say  that  the  region  is  wholly  undeveloped. 

Generalizing  these  facts,  we  have  a  population  of  1,200,000  inhabitants, 
occupying  a  territorial  area  of  157,000  square  miles,  in  which  is  embraced 
33,444,000  acres  of  arable  land.  Upon  a  less  area,  in  the  empire  of  Japan, 
35,000,000  people  find  subsistence,  and  are  living  in  a  state  of  plenty, 
which  admits  of  the  development  of  all  the  higher  attributes  of  civiliza- 
tion. In  the  valley  of  the  Po,  in  area  380,000  acres  less  than  the  arable 
extent  of  the  Sacramento  Valley,  seven  millions  of  people  find  profitable 
employment  for  their  industries.  With  these  boundless  resources  before 
us,  we  may  extend  a  welcome  to  our  fellow  countrymen  from  the  more 
densel}'  settled  portions  of  our  country,  with  every  assurance  that  here  a 
great  empire  of  wealth  and  population  awaits  only  the  creative  influence 
of  intelligence  and  enterprise.  * 

THE  VAIvUE   OF   I.AND. 

It  has  been  contended  with  more  or  less  plausibility  that  the  high  price 
at  which  the  lands  are  held  in  California  is  arresting  its  growth  and 
development.  After  an  exhaustive  inquiry  into  the  subject,  I  am 
disposed  to  think  that  this  charge  must  be  plainly  met,  and  that  the  real 
facts  must  be  presented  to  the  world. 


—  27—  . 

Since  the  year  1869  the  extension  of  railroad  lines  into  sparsely  settled 
or  wholly  uninhabited  territories  of  the  United  States  has  opened  to 
settlement  an  area  so  vast  as  to  distribute  thinly  the  great  tide  of  immi- 
gration which  annually  overflows  from  the  more  densely  populated  por- 
tions of  this  country  and  Europe.  The  railroad  extension  referred  to 
opened  vast  areas  of  sparsely  settled  and  uninhabited  territory  and 
brought  these  into  competition  with  each  othei-  in  the  field  of  invitation 
to  settlement.  Since  that  period  the  State  of  Kansas  received  a  million 
of  inhabitants,  Texas  1,600,000,  Minnesota  70,000,  Dakota  600,000,  Ne- 
braska 500,000,  Wyoming  300,000,  Washington  100,000,  Montana  100,000, 
Arizona  50,000,  Colorado  400,000,  and  California,  according  to  the  census 
report,  about  500,000.  Of  all  these,  the  growth  of  Kansas  has  been  the 
most  phenomenal.  The  reason  for  this  is  not  far  to  seek.  Kansas  was 
more  accessible  than  any  of  the  Pacific  Territories,  and  lands  there  were 
cheap.  In  estimating  the  obstacles  to  settlement  of  a  distant  region  the 
cost  of  reaching  that  region  must  occupy  a  prominent  place.  It  has  cost 
more  money  in  the  past  to  remove  a  body  of  population  aggregating 
100,000  men  from  the  more  densely  populated  and  overflowing  sections 
of  our  country  to  California  than  to  remove  1,000,000  from  the  same  sec- 
tions to  Kansas  and  Nebraska.  The  value  of  land  superficially  in  Cali- 
fornia received  a  high  development  in  advance  of  the  density  of  popula- 
tion. In  common  observation,  good  agricultural  land  is  deemed  to  have 
reached  its  highest  point  of  value  at  from  $2,0  to  $50  an  acre.  A  greater 
density  of  population,  of  which  we  have  had  no  experience  in  California^ 
will  urge  these  prices  up  from  |6o  to  $75  an  acre,  and  if  the  lauds  are 
fertile  as  in  Belgium,  and  the  population  equally  dense  with  that  country, 
the)' will  reach  the  value  of  $1,000  to  |5i,5oo  an  acre.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances they  become  garden  lands  with  immediate  home  market,  but 
lands  in  California  were  sold  for  from  I30  to  $50  an  acre  when  lands  in 
Kansas  and  Nebraska  could  be  obtained  at  the  single  minimum  of  $1.25. 
an  acre,  or  within  railroad  limits  at  I2.50  an  acre.  When,  therefore,  the 
immigrants  had  their  choice  between  Kansas,  Nebraska,  Colorado,  Min- 
nesota and  Dakota,  where  lands  could  be  obtained  at  |i.b5  an  acre  at 
first  hand  from  the  Government,  or  at  from  $5  to  $10  an  acre  at  second 
hand,  as  against  laud  in  California,  which  was  held  at  from  |i5  to  $2,0  an 
acre,  the  immigrant  chose  the  former  location,  under  the  somewhat 
justifiable  but  mistaken  belief  that  lands  in  California  had  reached  their 
full  development.  I  beg  to  introduce  the  statement  of  fact  that  the 
average  value  of  agricultural  lands  in  the  Sacramento  valley  have  not 
yet  reached  $25  an  acre.  The  more  fertile  alluvial  lands,  suitable  for 
growing  fruits,  and  in  the  localities  where  the  fruit  is  early,  and  where 
the  environment  is  peculiarly  favorable  to  fruit  growing,  lands  are  held 
at  a  valuation  of  from  I50  to  $75  an  acre.  In  the  pamphlet  literature 
which  is  distributed  at  the  Bast  the  statement  is  made  that  good  fruit 
land  can  be  obtained  in  California  for  from  $75  to  I150  an  acre. 

I  am  painfully  conscious,  from  personal  observation,  of  the  effect  this 
produces  on  the  mind  of  the  Eastern  agriculturist.     Let  us  illustrate  this  : 


.     —  28  — 

The  intending  immigrant  is  not  content  with  second-class  land.  He, 
therefore,  contemplates  the  purchase  of  the  best  quality,  or  the  highest 
figure  used  in  this  illustration,  $150.  Suppose  he  has  at  home  200  acres 
which  he  can  sell  at  I50  an  acre,  he  will  obtain  |io,coo  for  his  farm.  He 
realizes  that  at  ^150  an  acre  he  can  purchase  in  return  for  this,  after  pay- 
ing his  expenses  to  California,  say  60  acres.  He,  therefore,  feels  to  be 
losing  140  acres  by  his  change  of  residence,  and  there  is  a  spirit  of  greed 
in  the  ownership  of  the  earth's  surface  which  makes  this  proposition 
instinctively  distasteful. 

But  the  figures  I  have  given  here  are  not  the  maximum  figures  by  any 
means.  In  recent  pamphlet  publications  relating  to  Southern  California, 
it  is  plainly  stated  that  good  orange  land  can  be  purchased  for  ^250  an 
acre.  I  read  these  statements,  in  the  light  of  personal  observation 
among  the  people  of  the  East,  and,  therefore,  have  a  better  realization  of 
their  deterative  force.  The  farmer  in  Iowa  with  200  acres,  saleable  at 
from  1:40  to  $50  an  acre,  realizes  that  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  his  farm 
will  purchase  only  one-fifth  of  its  area  in  Southern  California.  He  must, 
therefore,  content  himself  with  giving  up  200  acres  and  becoming  the 
proprietor  of  only  40  acres.  This  is  analagous  to  the  condition  which 
existed  during  the  period  of  the  great  premium  on  gold.  While  Cali- 
fornia maintained  a  gold  standard,  the  fortunes  of  Eastern  people  were 
convertible  into  greenbacks,  but  if  they  chose  to  emigrate  to  California, 
they  must  convert  their  greenbacks  into  gold.  The  farmer  who  could  sell 
his  farm  for  ^20,000  in  greenbacks,  after  removal  to  California,  must  submit 
to  a  reduction  of  from  |io,ooo  to  ^12,000  on  the  face  value  of  his  money, 
before  he  would  have  the  only  currency  recognized  by  the  commerce  of 
this  State.  However  clear  a  case  might  have  been  made  for  the  equivalent 
value  of  the  specie  into  which  the  currency  had  been  converted,  the  senti- 
mental considerations  were  against  the  change,  and  sentiment  is  not  with- 
out influence  even  in  matters  of  commerce.  The  reverse  of  this  operated  to 
send  our  population  eastward.  The  man  who  could  raise  "f  10,000  in  gold 
coin  in  California,  could  convert  it  into  $20,000  of  the  currency  in  use  in 
the  Eastern  States.  Subsequent  events  proved  that  there  was  something 
more  than  sentiment  in  this,  because  the  purchasing  power  of  currency 
eventually  arose  to  a  par  with  gold.  The  gain  became  something  more 
than  apparent — it  became  actual.  I  declare  herein  unqualifiedly  that  the 
analogy  of  this,  as  relates  to  land,  is  the  chief  difficulty  in  immigration  to 
the  State  of  California.  At  the  same  time  I  declare  that  this  reason  is 
not  justified  by  the  real  facts  of  the  situation.  The  lands  held  at  I150  an 
acre  in  California  are  cheaper  than  any  lands  within  the  boundaries  of 
any  of  the  five  great  Western  States  at  $50.  It  is,  however,  not  an  easy 
task  to  justify  this  statement  to  the  full  comprehension  of  the  intending 
immigrant,  or  to  secure  complete  acceptance  of  its  truth;  but  it  is  clearly 
within  the  knowledge  of  you,  gentlemen  of  the  Board  of  Agriculture, 
that  lands  in  California  which  have  a  ready  market  value  of  ^^150  an 
acre,  are  capable  of  producing  a  far  better  rate  of  interest  on  that  invest- 
pient  than  any  lands  which  may  be  obtained  in  the  corn,  wheat  and  pork 
regions  of  the  West  at  one-third  that  figure. 


—  29  — 

In  collecting  data  for  this  address,  I  have  made  extended  inquiry 
as  to  the  actual  profit  obtained  from  fruit  growing  in  the  fruit-growing 
sections  of  the  State.  The  instances  of  a  net  average  profit  of  $ioo  a 
year  continuing  for  a  long  period  are  not  rare.  Mr.  A.  T.  Hatch,  one  of 
the  most  experienced  fruit  growers  in  the  State,  has  given  the  assurance 
that  the  fruit  lands  of  California  are  yielding  a  net  annual  profit  of  from 
^50  to  |ioo  an  acre.  The  fruit  product  of  ninety-seven  acres  at  Vaca- 
ville,  hanging  upon  the  trees,  was  sold  during  the  present  season  for 
^18,000  in  cash,  the  payment  being  made  before  any  of  the  fruit  was 
removed.  About  three  years  ago  W.  h.  Buck  of  Vacaville,  purchased 
from  Thomas  Wilson  of  that  place  150  acres  of  land  planted  to  orchard 
for  190,000,  being  at  the  rate  of  |6oo  per  acre.  The  trees  planted  thereon 
were  for  the  most  part  in  bearing  at  the  time.  They  are  now  in  full 
bearing,  and  the  fruit  product  of  this  year  on  the  trees  is  estimated  to 
be  worth  130,000,  or  ^200  per  acre. 

But  let  us  here  use  the  most  conservative  figures,  furnished  by  Mr.  A. 
T.  Hatch,  and  declare  that  $50  an  acre  is  the  reasonable  expectation  of 
profit  to  the  fruit  grower.  Lands  upon  which  this  profit  may  be  realized, 
may  be  had  for  ^100  an  acre.  Here  then  an  agriculture  may  be  prose- 
cuted which  returns  a  net  annual  profit  of  one-half  the  original  value  of 
the  land.  It  is,  or  should  be,  well  known  to  you,  as  it  is  well  known  to 
the  cultivators  of  the  soil  in  the  great  agricultural  States  of  the  West, 
that  an  annual  profit  of  from  six  to  ten  per  cent  would  be  regarded  an 
extremely  satisfactory  result  on  the  lands  valued  at  from  ^40  to  $50  an 
acre.  But  there  are  large  areas  of  land  in  California  which  may  be  pur- 
chased for  from  $30  to  $40  an  acre,  and  which  if  devoted  to  those  produc- 
tions, permitted  by  the  higher  possibilities  of  climate,  would  make  them 
worth  from  11300  to  $500  an  acre  within  a  short  period  of  time.  When 
the  Eastern  mind  has  accepted  the  conclusion,  for  which  the  people  of 
California  have  contended  for  many  years,  the  accession  of  population 
will  be  as  rapid  as  has  been  observed  in  the  Western  States.  When  it  is 
understood  that  lands,  which  may  be  purchased  for  $50  an  acre,  are  easily 
susceptible  of  becoming  worth  three  or  four  times  that  sum  and  that 
lands  valued  at  $ioo  per  acre  may  readily  become  worth  ^500  an  acre, 
the  intending  immigrant  will  be  no  longer  deterred  from  casting  his  lot 
with  us,  because  the  number  of  his  acres  must  be  diminished.  The  true 
standard  of  estimation  of  the  value  of  land  is  not  by  any  unit  of  area, 
but  by  the  unit  of  fertility,  and  by  the  standard  of  units  relating  to  the 
possibility  of  a  higher  use  for  the  land.  Acres  may  express  the  extent 
of  surface,  but  when  value  is  under  consideration,  climatic  possibilities 
and  fertility  are  the  controlling  factors.  The  true  method  of  determin- 
ing values  is  by  productiveness  rather  than  surface  extent. 

A  recapitulation  of  the  foregoing  considerations  presents  our  State  as  in 
the  very  infancy  of  its  development.  The  industries  upon  which  we  are 
founding  a  commonwealth  have  had  less  than  twenty  years  of  history. 

We  have  but  recently,  even  but  now,  acquired  that  intelligent  percep- 
tion of  our  environment  which  will  enable  us  to  avail  of  the  higher 
possibilities  of  our  soil  and  climate. 


—  30  — 

We  are  no  longer  remote  in  a  commercial  aspect  from  the  great  centers 
of  commercial  activity. 

Economic  methods  of  communication  have  conferred  upon  us  the 
equivalent  of  physical  contiguity  with  the  rest  of  the  world. 

More  intelligent  methods  of  agriculture,  improved  conditions  of  the 
labor  market,  combined  with  the  constant  decrease  in  the  cost  of  trans- 
portation, afford  assurances  of  the  permanency  of  all  our  industries. 

Our  State  has  a  territorial  area  of  157,000  square  miles,  comprising  an 
arable  area  of  35,000,000  of  acres,  capable  of  supporting  ten  times  the 
population  now  in  occupancy.  We  have  a  climate  which  admits  of  the 
economies  of  production  as  relates  to  every  industry,  and  confers  upon 
us  the  broadest  diversity  of  production  and  the  largest  future  possibili- 
ties. We  have  large  areas  of  land  under  the  conditions  of  primitive 
development  as  to  values. 

These  facts  constitute  in  themselves  a  strong  invitation  to  the  home 
seekers  among  our  countrymen. 

The  love  of  Californians  for  their  State,  which  is  proverbial  throughout 
the  world,  has  ample  justification.  Where  else  on  the  earth  is  there  more 
inspiring  cause  for  love  for  one's  country  ?  In  what  other  country  is 
there  broader  freedom  of  thought  and  action  ?  In  what  other  country 
are  the  alluring  prophesies,  which  attend  the  hopes  of  young  life,  more 
certain  of  fulfillment,  or  in  what  other  country  do  greater  blessings  of 
peace  and  plenty  minister  to  the  comforts  of  age  ?  In  what  other  country 
is  honest  industry  more  respected,  or  does  labor  earn  a  higher  meed  of 
profit  and  honor?  Under  our  summer  suns  the  fruits  of  the  tropics 
ripen  without  the  torrid  rigors  of  the  equator.  Here  the  russet  brown  of 
our  summer  hills  and  the  golden  stubble  of  the  after  harvest  are  the  only 
winter  we  know.  Here  the  verdure  of  spring  ushers  in  the  autumn,  and 
the  autumn  brings  no  forewarning  of  the  bleak  discomforts  of  winter. 
Here  winter  is  the  season  when  the  warm  brown  earth  is  turned  by  the 
plow  for  the  seed  time,  and  spring,  with  its  flowers  and  ripening  grain, 
is  opulent  with  the  fruition  of  hopeful  industry.  Nor  are  these  all  the 
attributes  which  challenge  our  love.  Here  nature  has  wrought  its  best 
enchantment  in  the  sublimity  of  mountain  heights,  the  bold  grandeur 
of  cliffs,  the  pensive  peacefulness  of  lovely  valleys  and  the  expansive 
splendor  of  fertile  plains. 

Looking  backward,  we  see  a  history  founded  in  the  romance  of  adven- 
ture. In  the  present,  we  are  laying  the  foundations  of  a  noble  common- 
wealth by  the  establishment  of  permanent  industries.  If  patriotic  devo- 
tion attends  upon  our  love,  and  high  endeavor  is  the  inspiration  of  our 
pride,  they  will  ripen  for  our  beloved  State  its  growing  harvest   of  hope. 


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